Dumas hoping Bees are stung into reaction

Published 12 Mar 2010 12:54 0 Comments

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Kept in Czech: Bracknell’s Jaroslav Cesky looks for a way past Basingstoke Bison netminder - and former Bee - Tom Annetts during his side’s 6-4 reverse at the Hive.

THE Bracknell Bees were stung badly last weekend in the race for the final play-off spot as they were thrashed 8-0 at nearest rivals Swindon Wildcats.

Head coach Claude Dumas described it as the worst defeat under him and the setback allowed the Wildcats to close the gap for the eighth and last play-off place to just two points.

A win for the Bees would have seen daylight between the two sides, but instead it is now game on.

Bracknell lost 8-0 on Saturday in Swindon but did show a good response during their 6-4 Sunday night home loss to the Basingstoke Bison who are on the charge again, only going down in the final period.

However, Dumas is still smarting from the defeat at Swindon and was at a loss to explain what went wrong.

He said: "I'm very, very disappointed. We never put them under pressure because they had to win, the pressure should have been on them.

"It was the worst display this season, I am 100 per cent sure of that. We have had some bad games but no disrespect to Swindon, the losses were against better teams.

"Hopefully it is out of our system now."

He is hoping for more of a response this weekend when the Bees host EPL basement side Romford Raiders on Saturday (6pm), before they travel to Manchester to take on the Phoenix on Sunday (5.30pm).

"We've had some good games against Manchester," said Dumas.

"The thing with them is that they give you chances. They are very, very good offensively but maybe they are a bit more open than the other sides at the top.

"If they are at their best then it will be very tough, but we believe we can go up there and do it.

"It will be very, very hard as they have two very good forward players, especially Tony Hand, but we can get a result."

However, it is may be more realistic and more important to gain the points against Romford to ensure they stay ahead of Swindon and Dumas confirmed: "That's a must win game.

"I respect them as there are no easy games but we have to win it to make sure we are ahead of Swindon in the play-off positions.

"But they can cause problems on the road so we know it will be tough. But if we play to our strengths we expect to win.

"We will be looking forward to it and wanting to win."

This article appeared in Villager 11 Mar 10

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